The idea that all theists are brainwashed idiots because God doesn't exist is your opinion bambam. Personally I think you're the one who's been brainwashed. I know "God" and "Satan" are real and they interact with the world on a daily basis. Satan has manipulated people against me, and taken away some of my very best friends and very nearly my life. I spent basically a decade recovering. But if it wasn't for God I wouldn't be here today. He's given me new life, and now I have the chance for a real career instead of a shitty service job.

But whatever, it's on you not me. Go on and believe in your Magic Pink Unicorn or your FSM or whatever your fancy is at the moment. But one day you may come to realize you've been duped.

The really sad thing is that the same mechanism that allows these fine gentlemen to believe in their bullshit also allows Muslim extremists to believe that what they're doing is righteous and good. You can't stop one without stopping the other. Food for thought.

Reasonable people in modern civilization draw the line between believing what they want and directly harming others. Radical Islam doesn't conform to such limitations and is therefore incompatible and should not be tolerated. Other radical mindsets aren't limited to religion and shouldn't be tolerated.

Neil's examples of his Magical Thinking are a good ones. These are the types of traps that many Christians, or followers of other supernatural thinking groups, fall into. When I was on The Peace Train Magic Bus, we stopped at Eagle Rock casino. Before we went in, we agreed to perform a ritual and "pray" to the "spirits" that they would help us win.

Neil, you can't get so emotional about everything. You have your beliefs and they have theirs, I don't expect anyone to change their minds, I just don't want the truth mis-represented here. If you leave, who's gonna test my binaries??? Cmon, don't get so bent out of shape by a few dimwits.

So all this arguments about how "terrorism only affects a few people, so we shouldn't spend our energy talking about it."

VS

"RELIGION WAR. I'VE GOT TIME AND ENERGY to discussing my possibly made up deity is better than your possibly-made up and/or lack-of-a-deity."

Do you guys see my point? We've got time and energy to discuss all kinds of things that have no practical benefit (certainly nobody is being converted today), but the second we talk about Muslims blowing up teenagers at a concert all a sudden "We don't have time for inconsequential stuff." Our people really that strapped for time, or are they just using it as a convenient excuse to not talk about an uncomfortable world reality?

If you think you're the minority try being the only Spirit-filled believer on allegro.cc

I'm confused. There's at least 4 Christians/religious people in this very thread.

-----sig:“Programs should be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"Political Correctness is fascism disguised as manners" --George Carlin

We are talking about it. We've been talking about it. Talking about it lead to the assertion that you cannot expect to get rid of one set of idiotic beliefs if you let other idiotic beliefs exist without scrutiny. That lead to some people with idiotic beliefs making idiotic claims about their idiotic beliefs being true.

The uncomfortable truth is that Christianity is just as stupid as Islam. You want to have one, but not the other. It doesn't work that way. Therefore, what is the solution? There doesn't seem to be one. If you'd like to propose some fair and plausible solutions have at it, but I haven't heard anything other than fear mongering and hatred. It may well be at least partially justified, but it doesn't practically solve any problems or make anything better.

Man is a dangerous being. Man is f*****g lethal when he thinks he's got God on his side! Why aren't religous books taught the same as Shakespeare, or Wordsworth? Why do we teach children that the stories in these books are real, and actually took place as described?? Surely the only way to end this is to ensure that these holy books are used in education the same as many others - as works of fiction. Important works of fiction, but fiction none the less. Then they can grow up rounded and without thinking they have a super hero invisible friend.

As an atheist, I'm not going to deny religion can be a positive social influence. It provides a sense of community, mental wellbeing, and other social and cultural benefits that secular alternatives are hard-pressed to match.

Zealotry is different. Zealotry arises out of desperation, poverty, and other cascading, negative influences. I've not read the Koran, and I'm not an Islam scholar, so I cannot say how fundamental Islamic beliefs aggravate the situation in the Middle East--there's plenty who will tell me the religion is inherently violent, and others who say the opposite, each providing excerpts. But I bet you I could make "Atlas Shrugged" appear as a communist manifesto if I selected particular fragments and excerpts .

But I tend to believe that the situation of religious terrorism, in particular terrorist acts committed by Muslims, is more of an outlet for other issues (poverty, warfare, famine) that affect the region. The only solution is treating the cause, not the symptoms. In other words: preventing climate change; helping rebuild communities and infrastructure; and supporting social causes such as education and healthcare.

But hey, drones, bombs, and body bags are cheap in comparison.

I think Emily Dickinson's small poem sums up my thoughts on the matter well:

Quote:

Faith is a fine invention For gentlemen who see But microscopes are prudent In an emergency.

And flammable cladding tiles, apparently There's a lot of anger in the air at the moment over the allegation that the flammable type of cladding, which is cheaper, was used even out of reach of fire engines on the block of flats in London, which was government-run and housed people who needed help with housing, ergo poor people.

So don't you dare bring your smug, arrogant attitude and tell ME God is a figment of my imagination! I have absolute PROOF HE exists and if you do NOT change your attitude before it is too late and pray for forgiveness you WILL be VERY sorry mister!!!

Certainly we only write down what we know for absolute certain and when we write it down we never make any mistakes. We're never mistaken in our understanding of goings on, or take other people's words as the truth without verifying facts. If a large group of people believe something happened then it must have. There's no possible way they could have all been fooled. It even tells you right there in the scripture that it's true! Obviously all of the books of the New Testament of the Bible must be 100% factual and anybody that doesn't believe a book compilation that promises to be true is a fool.

omg, these are real documented people from history who documented Jesus' life and teachings. He came to fulfill the scriptures, and He did. These are actual historical facts about real people who actually lived before you. But of course all this is just from a bunch of believers. All of it is totally made up. Of course the Hebrews made up the Old Testament so they could live strict ritual lives and live according to some crazy Ten Commandments, even though most of them would die in the wilderness for being un-believers. Just for fun. They made it all up so their lives could be harder.

And besides bamccaig, you're just playing on doubt. It's not like you have any facts to support your claims. :/